NY Times Story: The Anti-Restaurant

Do you like to cook? Do you watch too many Food Network shows? Do you think you could do better at running a restaurant than those idiots on Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares?

Looks like underground restaurants are all the rage in NYC. It has me pondering - would I be able to handle what is essentially a dinner party for strangers?

The Anti-Restaurant

I know that at some point I'd probably freak out a little from having total strangers in my house, eating food I cooked for them. The older I get, the more introverted I've become, and I don't think I could handle it.

However, it gives me a neat idea for a dinner party. What if I invited a bunch of friends to my house for dinner, and asked them to each bring 1 ingredient of their choice, in a quantity sufficient to feed a bunch of people? And then, when the ingredients and guests arrived, made up recipes based on what they brought? That might be kind of fun.

The late, lamented, Son of Thanksgiving festivities were similar to that. On the day after TD, we asked everyone to bring the leftovers from their family feast, and let their friends devour them. That was a ton of fun - one year we had enough half-and quarter-servings of pie to fill the entire dining table. (Fondly remembered as Son of Thanksgiving - House of Pie!)

So no, I'm not about to start an underground restaurant, but the article did remind me that I love to cook for my friends.